Winged But Flightless

20250720

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

“You’re late.” Stephan grumbled. A frequent greeting.
“Sorry.” Harald muttered, yanking his astronomer’s robe on.
Stephan’s quill paused halfway through jotting down a reading and he shot his assistant an uncertain, concerned look. “…Did something happen?”
“Mm. I’m alright.”
Not quite an answer. But certainly a rebuff. So Stephan shrugged and turned back to his work. The winds were getting stronger again. Good for sailors… currently. But if it kept shifting at this rate-
“God’s a right jokester, eh?”
Stephan froze, then fixed Harald with a glare.
“What?” Harald scoffed, folding his arms and slouching against the telescope frame. “Imagine if She had made birds and not taught them to fly. That’s what She did with us and the Weave. Gave us Sight, told us to fix the Snarl, buggered off and left us flailing.”
Stephan took a sharp breath and hissed “Do you want the Watchers in here?”
“What are they gonna threaten us with? The world’s ending. Don’t know why they’re even bothering trying to prevent Manifestation at this point. Not like shit can get much worse.”
“Oh, it could.” Stephan stared broodingly down at the weather charts. “It can always get worse.”
Harald stared blankly, then grinned. “Well whaddaya know. Never woulda thought I’m the optimist here.”
“Humph. Apparently so.” Stephan rubbed his forehead. “Look. I… I get it. I do. But grumbling like that won’t help. Alright?”
“Sure, but… it’s been, what, three generations of enforced positivity? And we still haven’t Manifested a damn solution.” Harald tapped the telescope. “I’ve pointed it at the moon, y’know.”
“You what?”
“Plenty of times. When I first got doubts. Desperate for a sign. Spent hours studying it. Never saw an angel. Not one.” Harald cast a sour glance at the door. “Devils, though… they’re everywhere you look. No wonder the Snarl’s getting fatter.”
“Yes, well - you’re feeding it right now!”
Harald grimaced and grumbled “Yeah, no shit. Devil got in my mirror a long time ago.”
“Just be glad you can still tell the difference.” Stephan pointed his quill. “And get to work.”
“…You’re really something, boss.” Harald shook his head and wandered to the indicated barometer, a reluctant smile curving his lips. “Dunno how you do it.”
“Simple. I keep my chin up, my eyes on the horizon, and moving forward. It’s treading water that’ll get you.” Stephan stamped the report and slammed it into the waiting tray. ”If the world does end, and I finally get to meet God, I can look Her in the eye and say I did my best.”
Harald raised an eyebrow. “And what if She falls about laughing and says it was pointless?”
“Then I’ll spit in Her face and laugh back. Say that at least I did my job.”
Harald whistled, a huge grin splitting his face. “Damn, boss! And you’re worried about me getting the Watchers in here?”
Yes, I am, because we can’t work from The Spool House. Speaking of which…”
“Yessir!” Harald chuckled and bent over his work.

Prompt was “Choose a lyric from a song and let it inspire you to write a fantasy story.”
[I chose Five Finger Death Punch’s “Thanks For Asking”, specifically the line “I know that god is laughing/She gave us our wings but never taught us to fly”. But I worked in as much of the song as I could, because I love the vibe of it.]